Earth Watch Report – Biological Hazards

RSOE EDIS

Saskatchewan health officials say a man who recently travelled to western Africa is seriously ill in hospital and one of the possible diagnoses they are considering is Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Dr. Denise Werker, deputy chief medical health officer, said there is fear an outbreak of the Ebola virus has spread to Liberia, where the man was travelling. “All we know at this point is that we have a person who is critically ill who travelled from a country where these diseases occur,” she said. She says hemorrhagic fevers are spread through contact with a sick person’s bodily fluids – one of the final symptoms is bleeding from the mouth and eyes. “Ebola hemorrhagic fever is not a highly infectious disease. People need to be in close contact with blood and bodily fluids and so that would be close household contacts of people who are taking care of these individuals,” she said. “There is no risk to the general public at all about this.” African health officials announced Monday that an outbreak of Ebola is believed to have killed at least 59 people in Guinea and may already have spread to neighbouring Liberia. Health workers in Guinea are trying to contain the spread of the disease. In Liberia, health officials said they are investigating five deaths after several people crossed the border from Guinea in search of medical treatment. Werker says the man showed no signs of illness on his return journey.

Biohazard name:

Ebola (Viral Fever) – Susp.

Biohazard level:

4/4 Hazardous

Biohazard desc.:

Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, H5N1(bird flu), Dengue hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, hantaviruses, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and other hemorrhagic or unidentified diseases. When dealing with biological hazards at this level the use of a Hazmat suit and a self-contained oxygen supply is mandatory. The entrance and exit of a Level Four biolab will contain multiple showers, a vacuum room, an ultraviolet light room, autonomous detection system, and other safety precautions designed to destroy all traces of the biohazard. Multiple airlocks are employed and are electronically secured to prevent both doors opening at the same time. All air and water service going to and coming from a Biosafety Level 4 (P4) lab will undergo similar decontamination procedures to eliminate the possibility of an accidental release.

Symptoms:

Status:

suspected

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RSOE EDIS

Saskatchewan health officials say a man who recently travelled to Liberia in Western Africa is “seriously ill” in a Saskatoon hospital with a high fever and other symptoms. Officials have not yet identified the nature of the illness, but Deputy Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Denise Werker, said at a news conference on Monday that the man is being examined for a suspected case of viral hemorrhagic fever. “Viral hemorrhagic fever is a generic name for a number of rather exotic diseases that are found in Africa,” said Werker. These diseases include Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and yellow fever. Liberia is currently dealing with an outbreak of Ebola after the virus killed more than 59 people in neighbouring Guinea. “All we know at this point is that we have a person who is critically ill who travelled from a country where these diseases occur,” Werkersaid. Tests have already been sent to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, said Werker. Results are expected Tuesday. “Measures have been taken to isolate the patient to ensure the illness is not transmitted,” Saskatchewan health officials said in a statement. “Public health officials believe the risk to the public is low, and are investigating.” The Canadian patient showed no signs of the illness on his return to Saskatchewan, said Werker. There is no vaccine for the Ebola virus, which leads to severe hemorrhagic fever. Werker said the virus is not as contagious as some might believe, and that it is transferrable through saliva and other bodily fluids. One of the final symptoms is bleeding from the eyes and mouth. “People need to be in close contact with blood and bodily fluids so that would be close household contacts of people who are taking care of these individuals,” said Werker. “There is no risk to the general public at all about this.”————–

A man is in hospital in Canada with symptoms of a haemorrhagic fever resembling the Ebola virus, a health official has said. The man had recently returned from Liberia in the west African region, currently suffering a deadly outbreak of an unidentified haemorrhagic fever. He is in isolation in critical condition in Saskatoon, the largest city in Saskatchewan province. A provincial medical official said there was no risk to the public. Dr Denise Werker, the province’s deputy chief medical officer, declined to say how long the man had been in Africa but said he only fell ill after returning to Canada. She said that was in line with the profile of common deadly haemorrhagic fever viruses Lassa fever and Ebola, which have an incubation period of up to 21 days. She said the people most at risk were healthcare workers who do not protect themselves from contact with the patient’s bodily secretions. “There is no risk to the general public,” she said. “We recognise that there is going to be a fair amount of concern and that is why we wanted to go public with this as soon as possible.” A virus resembling Ebola has struck in Guinea, with cases also reported in Liberia. As many as 61 people have died of the disease in the remote forests of southern Guinea. But health officials in the Guinean capital, Conakry, have said the virus is not Ebola. In Saskatchewan, Dr Werker said the man’s diagnosis had not yet been confirmed and that a laboratory in Winnipeg was testing a biological specimen from the man.

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RSOE EDIS

A suspected case of the deadly Ebola virus in Saskatchewan has tested negative. Tests also came back negative for Lassa, Marburg and Crimean Congo. The World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted the results Tuesday from its verified Twitter account. Canada’s deputy chief public health officer said in a release that tests at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory confirmed the ill man does not have Ebola or any other hemorrhagic viruses. Dr. Gregory Taylor’s statement said ruling out those four hemorrhagic viruses “significantly reduces the risk to the people who have been in close contact with the patient while the patient has exhibited symptoms.” Taylor added there has never been a confirmed case of a hemorrhagic virus in Canada, and that testing continues to determine the man’s illness. “If a case were ever confirmed in Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada would alert Canadians immediately and put measures in place to protect the public,” the PHAC said in a statement. Hartl suggested the case “is apparently a severe case of malaria.” A top Saskatchewan public health official announced Monday that the man in question, who was recently in the West African country of Liberia, was critically ill and isolated in a Saskatoon hospital with what was believed to be viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF). Included in the general class of VHFs are Ebola fever, Lassa fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, dengue fever, and Marburg hemorrhagic fever. Health care workers sent the patient’s specimens to the national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg for a diagnosis, said deputy chief medical health officer Dr. Denise Werker. Rampant spread of hemorrhagic fevers in Africa, including a current outbreak in Guinea of Ebola, can be linked back to poor infection control in hospitals, Werker said.

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RSOE EDIS

Doctors say the man isolated in a Saskatoon hospital after returning home from Africa has an undiagnosed fever of unknown origin. Rod Ogilvie remains in critical condition and is intubated with failing organs according to Denise Werker, Deputy Chief Medical Health Officer. Late Monday night, lab tests resulted negative for the four most serious pathogens of viral hemorrhagic fever: Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Crimean-Congo virus and Lassa virus. Werker said there are other hemorrhagic fevers, like Dangue, but those are not transmissible from person to person. As a precaution, doctors also isolated some of Ogilvie’s family members while they investigated the possibility for viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola but those people have been released now that it has been ruled out. Doctors still don’t know exactly what kind of illness Ogilvie is suffering from so more lab tests are being done into other diseases like Malaria.”Malaria is not contagious from person to person. If this person has a bacterial infection that has caused an encephalitis or meningitis kind of disease, potentially that could be infectious to close contacts,” she said but explained doctors do not think there is any risk to the public. However the first test for Malaria resulted negative but they are doing another review of the test slide just to make sure. “A pathologist looks underneath a microscope and actually has to identify those organisms on the slide, so it could be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Werker. Ministry of Health gets information about diseases and outbreaks from the World Health Organization (WHO) that is then circulated to Saskatchewan’s medical health officers. She said they provide info to physicians in the community to alert their diagnostic suspicion of those diseases. “The fact that viral hemorrhagic fever was considered in this circumstance is a great indication that our systems are working to keep our residents safe,” said Werker. Ogilvie returned to Saskatchewan on March 8 but did not start to show symptoms until March 20. Werker stressed there was no risk to public health between that time for people on the aircraft or on public transit because most people only become contagious once they are symptomatic. There would also have to be direct contact between bodily fluids like blood or using his toothbrush.

Canada patient tests negative for Ebola

WHO says testing will continue

(CNN) —A man in Canada who was suspected of having Ebola has tested negative for viral hemorrhagic fevers, according to the World Health Organization and Canadian health officials.

Viral hemorrhagic fevers is a generic term that refers to a number of diseases found in Africa, including Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and yellow fever, according to Denise Werker, deputy chief medical health officer at the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health.

Testing on the man continues, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in a tweet. “May be malaria. Will know today.”

“The patient in Saskatchewan does not have Ebola, Lassa, Marburg or Crimean Congo virus,” said a statement from the Deputy Chief Public Health Office in Saskatchewan.

“The risk to Canadians remains very low. In addition, the ruling out of those four hemorrhagic viruses significantly reduces the risk to people who have been in close contact with the patient while the patient has exhibited symptoms.”

Health officials in Canada said Monday they were looking into the case of a man exhibiting symptoms consistent with viral hemorrhagic fevers. He had recently traveled from Liberia.

“There is no risk to the general public at all about this incident. We recognize that there’s going to be a fair amount of concern, and that’s why we wanted to go public with this as soon as possible and dispel some of those myths that are out there,” Werker told reporters Monday.

2 Comments:

It is scary. Unfortunately it has the potential to be much more considering the Ebola Virus is now spreading in Guinea from the outer rural areas to the capital and they have an International Airport. The danger of international contamination is a definite possibility.

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